Katrilla
by Akili-chan
Summary: A two part story, based on the fairy tale. Warning: OOCness, fluffyness, and slight insanity. Also now comes with a ending! no slash, jeeze you people are strange, lol
1. Chapter 1

I don't own anything in this world, not even the clothing on my back. But someday I shall own all rights to the show and I shall force people to buy tapes! Mwahahahahahaha! This fic is some what sane (I mean, being written by me and all) So please enjoy.

* * *

Once upon a time there lived a young girl named Katharine or, she preferred, Kat. Kat was the pride and joy of her mother and father until the day her mother began to get sick. At first she just felt a little tired in the middle of the day until the day that the duchess was forced to lay in bed every hour of the day. The poor woman began to worry about what would happen to her young child after she died, so the duchess called in the duke and made him get on his knees and swear that he would marry and give little Kat a mother. With tears in his eyes the duke promised that he would re-marry for the sake of his beloved child, then held his wife's hand as she took her very last breath.

The household was placed into mourning as the duchess was laid to rest under a weeping willow tree as it had been her wish. Whenever Kat felt like she needed her mother the most the child would talk to the tree after the daily watering she gave it.

The months passed and the Duke searched for another woman to take the place of his wife. In vain he searched for months for a woman as kind as his late wife. After a couple of months, however, the duke was sure he'd found the perfect woman to take care of little Kat. She was the widow of a count and had two girls already, two dark haired beauties named Rachel and Laura. As the duke courted the widow she was a thousand times more kind then any woman he'd ever seen before. So soon the duke brought to his house a new wife to help him take care of his young daughter .

For the first couple of weeks, as the duke stayed home, the new duchess was kind and loving towards her new child. But all of that ended the day the duke left home on a trip to a friend's. Poor Kat suddenly found herself being forced to give all her dresses to Laura and what ever jewel caught Rachel's eye. In vain Kat protested that it was all her stuff, her step-mother would just smirk then remind Kat that no one would or could help the young girl. Kat's step-family wanted to kick her out of her room, but lived in fear of what the duke would say if he knew of the ill treatment of his only child. So Kat was allowed to keep her room and plainest clothing as she did all the chores her step-mother told her to.

The child hoped that when her father came back home he would right all wrongs that had been done to her. But no sooner had she told him of her ill treatment then she found that her step-mother had complete control of the duke's heart to. In tears Kat vowed to run away from home, so packing up her bag the child went down to the willow tree to bid her mother goodbye. As she sat on the grass sobbing Kat heard her mother's voice coming from the tree. It told her to go back to the house and bear what she was forced to do as something great waited for the young child.

Drying her tears Kat promised to stay until her award has come and that if she ever needed help to come to the tree and ask for it. Then Kat picked up her bag and marched back inside to brush Laura's hair and lace up the step-mother's dress.

The years went by and Kat grew up to be a fair but strong willed maiden. Her step-family had become so jealous of her looks that they now forced her to sleep in the kitchen and only allowed her old rags from the stable boy. All of this Kat took without a word, even though frogs and snakes seemed to always appear inside the step-family's rooms at the oddest times. But despite her mean clothing Kat was well liked by all who met her. All, upon seeing the smirk on her lips and the gleam in her eyes, could not help themselves from talking and becoming friends with the girl.

Kat still talked to the tree, as it had yet to stop talking to her. Sometimes Kat thought that she must be crazy, but the tree was the only thing that she could look forward to everyday. The young woman had yet to ask the tree for help as she didn't think that she could stand not getting any help when she asked. Even as the chores went from bad to worse Kat never even had it cross her mind to ask for help from anyone, or to even allow anyone to know how she felt about anything in fear that she would only be jeered.

One day Kat was called away from making bread into her step-mother's room. As the black haired girl watched in horror the step-mother pointed to her fire place and smiled evilly. "A stupid servant girl has dumped a bowl of beans into the coals. You need to pick the beans out of the coal before you cook dinner for my little Laura's birthday ball. You have two hours before it begins." So saying the step-mother glided out of the room, leaving Kat to cry or pled for mercy. Kat didn't do any of those things, as she looked into the fireplace the young woman groaned then looked out the window into the garden, namely her mother's final resting place.

"I wish you would help me mother," Kat whispered for what was the first time in her life. Just as she bent down to begin picking the beans out of the coal she heard the sound of a hundred wings outside of the castle. Looking up again Kat watched in wonder as birds began to fly though the window to the room. Kat flattened herself against the far wall as the birds began to fill the room and diving towards the fireplace.

To her surprise the birds left as quickly as they had come, leaving a pile of beans in a basket. Laughing about the fact that her step-mother could find no fault with this Kat picked up the basket and began to walk down the stairs so she could cook the birthday ball's food. Kat stopped when she noticed her two step-sisters talking to each other in excited voices Laura and Rachel discussed the up coming ball the prince was supposedly going to give.

"I just know that the Prince will want to marry me!" Bragged Laura as she checked her hair in a mirror and smiled sweetly at her image. Rachel just rolled her eyes at her sister then frowned and looked around.

"You know.. I've been thinking about Kat..." Deciding that this would be a good time to run away before they caught her eavesdropping the young woman ran down the stairs and began to make a feast for all the guests that had been invited for the ball to eat.

* * *

"Finally! I hate these stupid party things," Gratefully Kat slipped off her shoes and began to climb up a tree far away from the bright lights and loud music of the ball. Humming along with her favorite waltz Kat allowed herself to lean against the top branch in a lazy manner with eyes half closed. Her head came up as a twig snapped a few feet away and a young man came walking though the path. He looked over his shoulder then scurried behind a bush to peer out for something. 

Not being able to help herself Kat began to laugh at the sight that the guy gave to her. He yelped and span around, only to have his foot slip on a clump of damp moss and he went crashing to the floor. Kat began to laugh even harder even as she slipped out of the tree to help him to his feet. Once they had both gotten themselves under control Kat looked at the boy with interest, he seemed a few years younger then her with dark hair and eyes.

"Hello, my name is Kat," She said bluntly trusting her hand out towards him. "I kinda work slash live here."

"Umm... Hi?" The guy answered looking down at her hand like he'd never seen anything like it before taking the offered hand and slowly shaking it. "I'm really sorry to have opposed upon you," he trailed off and smiled awkwardly.

"Meh, I'm use to it." Kat sighed as she looked around the garden. "I was just about to stop by my mother's grave." She couldn't believe she's just said that, maybe it was just because he reminded her of a lost puppy. The next words out of her mouth surprised Kat even more "Would you like to come with me?"

He looked at her with wide eyes then nodded and fell in step behind her. They walked to the tree and Kat knelt by the tree. "How old where you?" He asked in a soft voice, but not really prying, or if he was he was really good at it.

"Five," Kat replied shortly hoping that he wouldn't start telling her how sorry he was at losing her mother and how he could feel, her pain, Kat knew it was bullshit whenever anyone said that. Nobody, NOBODY could ever know how she felt about her mother's death. But the boy just nodded then looked off towards the castle. They sat in the silent garden, Kat pulling at weeds and grass around her as the kid just keep looking off, his eyes slightly dreamy.

"Kaaaat! Where are you?" Came the screeching voice of her step-mother. Biting back her sharp reply Kat smile at the boy who's company she'd been enjoying.

"I'll see you again?" He asked gripping her arm with his right hand and looking as though he was about to lose his best friend. "Please?"

"Well..." Kat nodded though she had no idea when he expected to ever see her again. "Take care!" With a wave of her hand the young woman took off running to see what it was her step-mother wanted.


	2. Chapter 2

_Alright! The last part of this thing (and soon I shall go back to scaring people even more with my ideas) And so.. drum roll Onto the show!_

Kat always liked cleaning the floor, not for the work but from all the juicy gossip she would learn about people as they would talk inside the rooms; forgetting that Kat was outside listening and keeping it all in her head. But by the end of that week Kat was ready to kill the next person who talked about two subjects: the prince and the up coming ball for the prince. So far she knew every single piece of clothing that each step-sister and step-sister's friend was going to have on during the ball. Though Kat couldn't figure out why half of the most expensive things had to be hidden away from the world.

"Waste of not really earned money if you ask me," She grumbled as she scrubbed the dirty dishes from lunch. Around her the entire castle was in a fuss about the ball, as they had been for a week. Wondering to herself why people would stress themselves over something so stupid Kat began to dry.

"Kat, would you please be a dear and fetch my ruby ring for me? And my red fan.. also my golden slippers?" Laura asked in a fake sweet voice as she brushed her hair and turned her head from side to side to get a better view of herself in the gold plated mirror that covered half of the wall. "I do believe that no one has a french trimmed corset. So go get that along with my other stuff."

"Yeah, yeah," Grumbled Kat under her breath from where she was half buried with clothing already. For once in her life Rachel was being silent, fetching her own clothing and asking if Kat would help her with hair and make up. Kat wondered if her older step-sister was feeling sick from days of not eating then grinned to herself at the image that sprung to her head of both step-sisters fainting at the ball.

She still couldn't believe it took her sisters hours to get ready, even after years of helping them getting ready for one thing or another. Kat was usually nicer when helping her step-family get ready for something that would get them out of the castle, for then Kat would have much needed time to herself. Of course that didn't mean that Laura did not have to complain about her corset making it hard to breath more then usual after Kat had tied her up, for that her Step-mother couldn't find her gold hair beads (hidden under the coals in her fireplace) and so was forced to have on the lesser valued pearls as she stepped into the coach.

Breathing a sigh of relief Kat went to water her mother's tree then planned to curl up in the library and read until she went to sleep. Whistling happily as she walked up the path to the tree Kat felt as though nothing bad could happen to her that night.

As she drew near to the tree Kat saw that it was waving from side to side, even though not a breath of wind had come though all day. She slowed down just a little bit, though inside Kat cursed herself for being scared in the first place. Once at the base of the tree Kat stopped and crossed her arms, waiting for something, anything to happen. A twinkling sound, almost like laughter filled the air then something heavy fell upon Kat's head. Yelping in surprise Kat jumped back then looked closely at what had hit her.

It was a gown, one made of a nice cloth with silver and opals dotting it. Kat snorted, though she was very confused as to why someone would leave such a nice gown up in a tree. Maybe someone had grown tired of it and decided to leave it to birds?

"Use it." Came a soft voice as Kat kicked at the gown. The young woman's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked around for the voice. "Go ahead, my young one. You wanted to go to the ball, did you not?"

"Hell no!" Kat replied shocked that anyone, even a tree, would think that she would ever want to go to a ball. Balls where filled with empty headed people attempting to impress each other with lack of skills in any department.

"Are you sure?" The voice was now sounding a bit worried, almost as though Kat was now a manic who would suddenly pull out a axe and start chopping down everything. "But, the prince is hosting it, is he not? Well then, all girls should go to a royal ball once before they marry."

Kat snorted but the tree kept at it, telling her that it was a once in a lifetime thing. Kat finally agreed, if just to get the bloody tree off of her back. So she slipped into the gown, frowning as it tightened slightly against her chest. She began to stomp off down the path again when the tree stopped her again.

"What about your shoes? Or hair?" The tree demanded in a shocked tone. "You need to have something other then that!"

"Well then," Kat snarled back "Why don't you give me some shoes or something!" The tree seemed to think about it as Kat fumed then two clear slippers fell to the ground. Picking them up Kat noticed that they looked like glass, but when she flicked a finger against them the shoes gave a clearer sound then glass ever did.

Shrugging and making a mental note to see how much money she could get from the shoes and gown Kat again walked away from the tree, this time ignoring it's protests that she still had not dressed her hair.

* * *

The ball was in full swing, even though Prince Berto himself felt as though a grave would be more lively then his coming out ball. People chatted in small groups, all girls fixing their neck lines in hopes that they would catch the prince's eyes. Even though the prince himself kept his eyes as far away from the necklines as he could a few people did enjoy the sight. Such as a strange man from France who wouldn't give his name but would just cackle and look at the nearest female.

Sighing Prince Berto looked around the room for any sign of his best friend, but sighed as soon as he caught sight of the man talking to a blond haired guest. There seemed to be no hope for the poor prince to get away from having to dance with one of the girls, even though they had on about three feet of fabric between all of them. "Gee, which one should I choose." Berto wasn't stupid, he knew his mom wanted him to get married quickly and have lots of little grand children. She didn't really seem to care about the girl that the said grand children would be coming from, or maybe she did and just hid it very well from Berto and the king.

The sound of trumpets jerked the prince out of his thoughts. Everyone gaped at each other, amazed that someone has decided to be on time and not an hour early like all the rest. All eyes went to the staircase, waiting to see what kind of person it could be. And as she appeared the Prince felt as though lightning had just struck him in the spot.

Kat's feet hurt as she walked up some stairs after a footman towards the ball room. She hated heels, could never understand why anyone would want to have on heels. The gown was also to heavy to allow her to walk like she usually did, all in all Kat was in a very bad mood. As she stepped into the ballroom she could feel people's eyes on her and making her feel, for perhaps the first time in her life, Kat felt like running away to hid. No one spoke as she walked awkwardly down the stairs, her head held high and eyes looking everyone in the face so that no one could see how scared she was.

She felt even more awkward as everyone just kept looking at her, a few whispering things to each other as she passed them by. Suddenly a hand took her arm, spinning around to yell at who ever it was Kat found herself face to face with the boy she'd meet before. His eyes searched her face then seemed to light up. "May I have this dance?" He asked softly, almost shyly.

Kat nodded, deciding that it was better then just standing around and watching everyone watching her. As the hours passed she began to relax slightly, even allowed herself to talk to the boy she was dancing with. To her complete surprise she found out that he liked the same books as Kat. She was happily telling him about her favorite battles in "An Orc's Arrow" when Kat caught sight of her step-family leaving the room, all of them dressed in traveling cloaks. Swearing at herself for allowing her guard to go down Kat turned to leave.

"Wait!" The boy yelled as she dashed out of the room, the clock beginning to clime midnight. "I don't even know your name! Stop, please!" Kat didn't give herself breath to reply, as intent as she was to get home before her family did. Luckily for her, Kat knew every path though the woods and somehow managed to reach her house before her step-family. She could heard them talking in loud, angry voices about how the prince had danced with no one but that "funny looking girl" a statement which made Kat smirk slightly before turned over to get some much needed sleep.

* * *

The next day Kat was again forced to scrub the floor with a bucket of water and scrubber. Grumbling under her breath Kat wished that her step-sisters and step-mother would stop complaining about how the prince had taken no notice of anyone in the family. Gritting her teeth against Laura's pouting cries Kat made a note to find a snake as soon as she could, hopefully a giant one.

Some one knocked on the door, wiping her hands on her tattered dress Kat went to answer it, ready to start yelling at who dared to come over at such a hour. The boy she'd danced with last night looked up hopefully as Kat opened the door, his mouth twitching up into a smile.

"What do you want?" Kat sighed, hoping that what ever it was it wouldn't take up to much of her chore time. He blinked at her rude tone then launched into what he'd wanted to say.

"Mymotherwantsmetogetmarriedbutyou'retheonlyoneiwanttomarrysowillyou?" Kat blinked as his words sunk in then frowned at him.

"No."

He gaped at her.

"I mean it, no way am I going to marry someone I just met. No matter what his mother wants."

"Err...," He went bright red then looked down at the ground. "Then.. May I court you?" It was now Kat's turn to blink and gape at someone. "I mean," he began to wave his arms around. "You don't have to if you don't want to! I could just leave and never return." He looked depressed but ready to run if Kat began to come after him.

She couldn't help but smile slightly. "I'll allow you to court me, if you do something for me." Laura came rushing down the stairs, her mouth falling open at Kat's words in a most unbecoming way. "Tell me your name first."

"MOTHER! LOOK WHAT KAT'S DOING! MAKE HER STOOOOOOOP!"

"Berto.. Prince Berto..."

* * *

_LOL, soor if the ending is a bit rished, but that's all I could come up with. That and it's almost 12 over here. So you'll have to exuse my poor endings._


End file.
